Why don't scientists use drugs (more)?

[VetLegion]

Surfing takes one down unexpected paths, so I was taken by clicking some link to a biography of mathematician Paul Erdős:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Erdős

The interesting part and the cause of this thread is this:

After 1971 he also took amphetamines, despite the concern of his friends, one of whom (Ron Graham) bet him $500 that he could not stop taking the drug for a month. Erdős won the bet, but complained that mathematics had been set back by a month: "Before, when I looked at a piece of blank paper my mind was filled with ideas. Now all I see is a blank piece of paper." The bet won, he promptly resumed his amphetamine habit.

We are witnesses to sportsmen using substances all the time, wishing to achieve more. Why aren't scientists doing the same?

Or are they?

Let's think about it for a moment. There should be substantial incentives to do so.

1. Some drugs definitely enhance cognitive abilities
2. Scientists are not competing in the way sportsmen are - advances in science are useful for the human race - therefore it is not immoral to achieve a breakthrough while high
3. Scientists are expected to be weird and don't go through doping tests, thus noone would even know

So, what's going on here?

[lightblue]

Who says they don't... they just don't get tested. I knew people at Cambridge that took Ritalin to hyperconcentrate, amphetamines to stay up etc etc

[SlowwHand]

You assume too much, Vet.

I vote with lightblue.

[SlowwHand]

[Elok]

I imagine the majority of parapsychology types are on something.

[VetLegion]

Great pic Sloww, very fitting

[Odin]

Richard Feynman worked while stoned IIRC.

[Zkribbler]

Mind altering drugs mess up your judgment.
The ability to think clearly is imporant to the pusuit of science.

[Elok]

Actually, it depends on what stage of discovery you're at. Being able to think unconventionally can get you past an apparent deadlock. I understand drugs can help with that.

[Jon Miller]

While many use some drugs (ritalin for example) for aids.. they don't do so all the time in general. Additionally, while some use drugs to have a good time (Acohol for example) most don't use drugs to such a large extant that it slows them down.

Sciences are very competitive, you don't want to lose that because you are getting high all the time.

A number of people in my class will smoke some dope a couple times a year. There are a few that will have a little a few times a week at night to relax them selves. Same with Alcohol (some have some at night to relax themselves). The really rampant drug use saps your focus.. you focus on the dugs instead of other stuff.

Scientists can't afford to do this. Coffee is however popular, and I bet if Ritalin and the like were legal, they would be more popular.

Jon Miller

[Leon Trotsky]

Originally posted by SlowwHand

[Nostromo]

While many use some drugs (ritalin for example) for aids..

Didn't know ritalin was a good treatment for AIDS

I'm sure a lot of them use the milder drugs like coffee... Sometimes, I'm tempted to experiment with Cocaine or the ADD drugs.

To answer: I'm not sure they don't use drugs.

[Jon Miller]

They don't.. at least not at the level of the general population..

JM

[Ari Rahikkala]

Crackpot "scientist" kooks

[Cort Haus]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Mind altering drugs mess up your judgment.
The ability to think clearly is imporant to the pusuit of science.

If you knew what you were talking about you'd realise that some drugs do assist, rather than impede, clarity of thinking.